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Oh yes, I've seen lots of screencaps from the special. Usopp does look incredibly sexy like that. XD But coming from me, does that really say much? It's just not pressing enough for me to watch it without subs. Maybe next they'll do a OP AU special story in the modern age or something. Hey, why not. The next movie is going to have mecha in it....

I really don't understand the process for the animation quality. I wonder if it's random, or if there's a reason and a cycle for it. I don't get how the animation is good in one episode and then two episodes later, it sucks. But Toei has always been like that. I used to see the same thing happen for the old Transformers cartoons.

Actually I'm almost 100% certain the movie production team is different. It even looks like the series has different sub-crews from time to time, because the style looks too different. And if you look at the animation quality throughout the years, the timing of the poorly animated episodes are not necessarily placed at a point near a movie release. In fact they just seem to be randomly placed at any given time.

The central reasons for animation inconsistency now and then in longer running series are time and money. A farely good animated episode can take more than couple of weeks. I'm not exactly sure how long it takes to animate an episode of One Piece, but if the animation is as good as it was in 250-251 then it's going to take at least a month to animate to fill a 40 minutes timeslot. The animators were probably working on that double-episodes weeks ahead, say, even before 247 aired. With times animators can do wonders. For example, you can have your jaw on the floor (OP style) when you see the type of animation shown in Beyond the Cloud movie which took years to be animated completely. Those perfectionist actually drew the characters in the background and animated them (meaning they not only drew those characters over and over, but they had to darw the background over and over as well!!!) which is the most difficult and time consuming process in animation. Episode 133 of Naruto also had similar style of animation but because the animator didnt have enough time, he (yeap, one single individual drew and animated that episode!!) couldn't apply a lot of finishing touches which can be seen through out the episode.

Naturally OVA, Movie, Special (like OP's year-end special) are going to be animated better than the animation seen in TV series because the animators are given a lot of time to work on them. At the same time, FMP TSR or Air has stunning animation for TV series. The most probable reason is that the animators for those series have completed animating a certain portion (my guesstimate - at least 75%) of the series before even the first episode even aired. For longer running series like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, etc, the animators don't have those kind of privilege. They might have finished animating a number of episodes before any of those shows started airing, but the one-episode-each-week must have cut into their surplus of animated episodes in no time.

Money is also a huge factor in having good animation. More money a producer is willing to throw in at a series, better the chace of it's seeing good animation i.e. the show can hire more than one reputable anime studios. Of course, longer running series will have a huge budget to begin with, but if you think about the alloted amount of money for each episode then you can pretty much figure out that an episode for shorter running series can have more money to work with than an episode for a longer running series even with a lot less budget compared to a longer running series. Also, for series like Air or FMP TSR have better animation just by the virtue of airing on a sattelite channel. They practically throw money at series that air in sattelite channels.

Yes, it did make sense. I know that longer running shows usually lack the quality of a shorter running show for those reasons. But that's a good point that the animators are probably working on certain episodes ahead of time that they percieve as needing more detail, or more important in the series, while they throw the less important, stalling-for-time type of episodes to the B-team.

Last 2 eps have still been pretty "meh"... Nami jumping from building to building in the rain forced me to suspend belief...It just wasn't real...Also who ever is doing the sound effects for these eps can they please let-up on the heels stomping against the ground...wearing my headphones it sounds like someone is doing chinese-torture on me via clickity-clack sounds ...Also Chopper's voice didn't sound any different to me, hmm...

Anyways nothing really has happened...a couple of quick Sanji action scenes in 255 were OK and the whole hidden sea-train thing was Ok...But nothing too exciting...All of franky's henchmen are prolly gonna die and I'm cool with that...I hope this whole situation gets handled before they get to Ennis Lobby...I think it would be cool to have Lucci fight Luffy (and everyone else) on top of the trains (and in the trains) in the rain with the threat of becoming "hammers" if they fall off...Not bitching because I know the end of this arc is gonna have a great pay-off, but these recent eps have been like watching glue dry...This arc really seems to be the most unfocused saga of the series so far...Mindless, great-action (that should be soon to come) will be my cure...

I really enjoyed 255. I haven't found any of the episodes boring at all. I noticed a little change from the manga - Originally Sanji just kicked one guy's head through the roof BEFORE he entered the storage car where Usopp and Franky were. I always wondered why there wasn't someone guarding the inside of the car, so I think that was a smart change.

I guess I have to watch it again..I really didn't notice it (Chopper's voice)...C'mon Chuix-chan, your putting up a brave-face...it's not like One Piece is bad or anything right now, but you have to admit this story is moving at a snail's pace with nothing really happening since the great revelations of eps 244-245...There's not even much comedy to buffer the slow pace...I feel like I'm watching these eps to get them outta the way more than I'm enjoying them...I'd say Skypiea and Arabasta had a much better adventurous feel to them...In Water 7 it's like nothings happening...We really don't know jack about it other than it's under water now...Lucci and company are just gonna sit in the first cart for the rest of the arc I guess...

Well, you know I read the manga, so I already know what's going to happen. It's way beyond all this stuff. But seriously, I really don't see what the problem is with these episodes, there's lots of interesting character interaction. We have three groups of people who were previously fighting joining together as one, and they're heading towards the center of the very center of World Government, where no criminal would dare set foot anywhere near if they had any choice.

Quote:

I feel like I'm watching these eps to get them outta the way more than I'm enjoying them...

That's how I felt about most of Skypiea.

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In Water 7 it's like nothings happening...We really don't know jack about it other than it's under water now

What's happening in Water 7 isn't important now, everyone is heading towards Enies Lobby, to get Robin and Franky back.

Well right now I have to say Skypiea > Water 7...Water 7 had 2 or 3 of the best eps I've even seen with the whole Gally-ha guys exposing their true-intentions to ICEberg and Rope-san (And Luffy vs. Ussop in the start)...The characters fighting Luffy and the others in disguise then revealing their true selves was awesome...Blueno the bar-keep having door-door powers and Lucci being a Leopard was awesome (Not to mention the rest)...then it just all turned into fodder...The character interaction you speak of is kinda non-existent (I mean Franky and Ussop was nice, but that's it)...The whole Ussop-Luffy thing seems like a lightyear in the past...Sanji as usual is doing his own thing...Nami is being Nami, except that it looks like she ate the jump-jump fruit ...The whole Franky backstory was a 3 part yawn to me (once again 1 ep would have sufficed)...And it looks like every episode Sanji is gonna beat a train-boss til he gets to the last one...

In Skypiea i was intrigued with so much stuff...The whole Holy-land...the secret of why a piece of Jaya was in Skypiea...The ancient text Robin finds....The whole criminal island with Bellamy and company...The Sky-Indians and Wiper...The shells with the different powers...The mystery of how people were getting totally killed by these HUUUUUUGE electric-blasts (when we didn't know what it was)...That big-a$$ Gold Ship....Luffy's incredible impromtu fighting vs. Enel...And lets not forget the cloud challenges that Luffy, Sanji ,and Ussop had to face (most of that was hilarious)...Chopper being left alone and being scared outta his mind had me coughing up phlegm I laughed so hard...There's so much going on...so much interesting stuff...I guess I'm the only one who really enjoyed that arc (and i watched the specially-worded eps to boot)...Can't believe it was such a bore to you...

Water 7 has a great intial plot (which was a hidden subplot centered around Robin), but not much else has been exciting...and with minimal action and comedy it's just average right now...Next episode Sanji fights opponent #4...that'll be the whole episode prolly...and I'm not mad at all, but I am a bit disinterested...This is a shonen...if your not gonna give me much to think about (like Skypiea gave me) lets see the mindless action (and i mean a whole episode of it, not a 30 sec. Sanji sequence)...

Well, then , I guess you have to chalk that up to different strokes for different folks.

Skypiea wasn't very intriguing to me. It was cool that Jaya was part of Skypiea, and they brought back cool stuff from it, but it's more interesting seeing what they do with it when they get back. I guess I'm a character-driven person, more interested in everything going on with characters internally. I thought most of the characters introduced in Skypiea were boring; All the Shandians, most of the villains, Konis and her dad = Zzzzz. And way too much screen time devoted to them and the whole battle/survival game thing.
On the other hand, I love everyone in Galley-la, CP9, and the Franky Family. Most of what is going on in this arc is internal, particularly with Robin, Usopp, and Luffy. Everyone is growing and changing, and I just love it, because it's about them, and where they're headed in the future. They're lives are about to change big time. If you like stuff related to history and the poneglyphs, there's some stuff revealed about that later on. I think after a big fantasy in the sky type of adventure, a hell-hole of temultuous conflict in a down-to-earth setting and re-assessments of priorities is an appropriate follow-up .

And what the hell, I loved Franky's flashback, those were some of my favorite episodes in the whole series.
See, there's just no accounting for taste. I think Usopp is sexy.

Well you got me there I too think the arc characters of Water 7 are better than Wiper, Enel, etc....which makes it all the more frustrating we hardley get any time with them...I'd be on a whole 'nother tangent if these eps focused on CP9 instead of Chopper and Nami searching for Luffy for 3 eps...Eventhough I hated Lucci at first he has a sinister presence that i haven't felt since Crocodile...I like Franky too and Ice-berg, but we haven't heard much compelling from any of them for like 10 eps (other than sob-stories)....

I ain't hatin'... I know once One Piece gets to where I want it to go I'll be impressed...But despite everything you said your fooling yourself if you think this story isn't moving at a snail-phone's pace ... Now I'll give you a mulligan on the fact you think everyone is changing...Only Ussop and Robin seem to have changed a bit to me, but I'll let the arc play out a little more...Luffy has acted status quo since the Ussop fight and Nami, Chopper, Sanji, and Zolo have acted pretty much as expected (I mean Sanji has been Mr. Prince since the day he got on the ship, he always creeps along on his own)...

I like character development too, but I don't think i can take anymore in this arc...Everything has been revealed (as far as the main plot-points of Water 7 that has gotten us to this point)...Now they should just act on it....I also agree that following the "pie in the sky" feel of Skypiea a gritty arc like Water 7 is indeed needed...I'm just saying lets cut the bull (which I guess is subjective) and get to the nitty-gritty...Like you i want to see and HEAR more dialouge from CP9's side...

Yes, I do agree that the story is moving slow, especially at this point. But I think part of my tolerance to that is simply that I'm sitting back watching an adaption of something I've already seen. And as I always say, the anime loves to stretch things out as long as they can, so it won't catch up to the manga, and that's part of the problem.
You will get to hear more from CP9...there's whole chapters dedicated to them, as I recall. I don't know what it is that you're expecting or hoping will happen. All I know is that almost nothing went in any way I thought it might. And this story will be dragged out even more, so beware.

BTW, why must you insist on spelling Zolo? It burns, it freeezes, my precious.

His name appears spelled ZORO in the manga and the anime multiple times. It's spelled Zoro in every other country in the world (except I think it's actually spelled Zorro in Germany) It was even Zoro in the American Viz manga until 4kids decided that kids were too stupid to distinguish Zoro from Zorro and Viz was forced to change it.

Yeah, but I like Zolo...it sound better to me...I am an American youth (well not as young as I used to be :P)...and Zoro (Zorro) does kinda sound wrong because of the fokelore spanish hero Zorro...And the Japanese don't say the letter "r" all that great anyways so I'll go with Zolo (The only thing ever ever 4kids did I guess I like xD)...

Read the countless threads in these forums, people use the names they like the most or familiar with...In the gundam forum people say Fllay, Flayy, Frey, Athrun, Asuran, Kammile, Cammille, Uso, Usso, Mia, Meer, Dullindal, Durandal, etc...So basically I like saying Zolo over Zoro for whatever reasons...I think it sounds better oddly enuff ^^...

Yeah, but I like Zolo...it sound better to me...I am an American youth (well not as young as I used to be :P)...and Zoro (Zorro) does kinda sound wrong because of the fokelore spanish hero Zorro...And the Japanese don't say the letter "r" all that great anyways so I'll go with Zolo (The only thing ever ever 4kids did I guess I like xD)...

Eh, well, whatever then. I think Zolo sounds retarded. Makes me think of Rolos, or Han Solo, or some sort of cereal.... And it's simply wrong. You don't type Naluto, do you? The Japanese don't say the letter "L" either. But if someone wants to spell Naluto, Zolo, and Nico Lobin, then who's to stop you.
My rule is I spell the name however Oda spells it. If there's no romanized spelling of it available, then it's free for all. But in this case there is, and it's very well established.